Chapter 723: Self-Upgrade (Part 5)

"Duan!"

"I know you're here!"

"Don't hide in the dark like a coward! Get out here!"

The aged roar transformed into a tangible sound wave, emanating from the depths of the rolling dark red blood cloud!

The voice pierced through the roaring dark purple thunder that filled the sky, reverberating back and forth over Falling Star Valley, shaking the surrounding space into layers of ripples.

Andrew, who had retreated to an isolated peak tens of miles away, listened in bafflement.

He tightened his grip on the cardinal's staff in his hand, resisting the strong gale, and frowned.

"Duan?"

"Who is he calling out to?"

Andrew gripped his staff tighter.

Several Holy Judgment Knights nearby, struggling to hold their ground, looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Your Eminence, has the monster in that blood cloud been struck crazy by the heavenly thunder?"

One knight swallowed a mouthful of saliva, pointing at the purple thunder net ahead, his voice trembling: "With such a formidable Heavenly Dao thunder punishment, even top-tier experts like Lord Domoko would face certain death entering it!"

"Under this thunderous might meant to erase everything in the world, even if all the SS-Rank Experts of our entire Free Federation joined forces, they wouldn't be able to contend with it!"

"At a time like this, who else would dare to muddy these waters? Who has the ability to help?"

Andrew didn't speak, his face ashen.

He agreed with his subordinates.

This kind of heavenly might was simply something human power could not defy.

However.

Just as Andrew was watching the monster in the blood cloud make its dying struggle,

"Your Eminence! Look up quickly!"

"Look at that person!"

A sharp-eyed knight widened his eyes, pointing toward the distant firmament, his voice so sharp it cracked!

Andrew rebuked, "Quiet! I have eyes and I can see it!"

Following the direction of the knight's finger,

Andrew widened his eyes.

He saw that on the outskirts of Falling Star Valley, high in the sky where even space was violently distorted by the thunder,

a middle-aged man wearing a retro fedora and a black trench coat, with his hands in his pockets, stepped upon the Void Realm as he walked forward.

The gale-force winds all over the sky whipped his trench coat into a flapping frenzy.

Yet his footsteps were steady, unhurried and unlagged.

At the first sight of the other party, Andrew felt a sense of familiarity.

This face looked somewhat familiar.

His brain operated at high speed.

Andrew shivered all over, a chill shooting straight from his tailbone to his crown!

He remembered!

Years ago, in the innermost inner court area of the Holy City, the other party had always been active there!

Even the aloof Holy Lord Francis, who never met guests, had once made an exception to personally meet this man in the deepest depths of the Cathedral of Light!

At that time, Andrew only dared to glance at him from afar, yet he was awed by the oppressive aura emanating from the other party.

"It turns out to be him…"

Andrew gripped his staff tightly.

What on earth was this person's background?!

The sacrifice of a million civilians, the Holy Lord's abnormality, the shocking change in Falling Star Valley…

Could all of this be related to this man surnamed Duan?!

What was he here to do?!

Just as Andrew was pondering,

the middle-aged man's figure had already walked into the intertwined zone of the blood cloud and purple thunder!

"He's crazy! He's simply insane!"

The knight beside Andrew shouted, "That is the core area of the Heavenly Dao thunder punishment!"

However, the scene that unfolded subverted the cognition of Andrew and the others.

They saw that the purple lightning—which was enough to cleave an SS-Rank Expert into powder—and the dark red blood cloud capable of draining the vitality of all things, vanished without a trace the moment they touched Mr. Duan's body.

Mr. Duan simply let the damage from the blood cloud and thunder strike his body.

He remained indifferent.

He didn't even frown.

Furthermore, when walking to that most violent center of energy,

he stopped, extended a hand, and took off the retro fedora on his head.

Facing the massive and ferocious blood cloud below, he executed an elegant and standard tipping of his hat.

"Long time no see, Blood Ancestor."

Mr. Duan smiled, his voice suppressing the thunder across the sky and reaching everyone's ears: "Sorry, I ran into a small trouble on the way and arrived late."

"What a load of bullshit!"

Deep within the blood mist, the existence known as the Blood Ancestor cursed angrily.

"Is this the time to chit-chat?!"

"Can't you see that this damned will of heaven has already targeted me!"

"Hurry up and help me kill it! This old man has been sealed in this pitch-dark ruin for so long, and I want to get out right now! I want to see blood!"

Facing the Blood Ancestor's irritable urge,

Mr. Duan put his fedora back on his head.

He nodded gently to show understanding.

"Understood."

"Since I promised to take you along to witness the new world, naturally I won't break my word."

Mr. Duan's words infuriated the firmament!

"Rumble—!!!"

In the sky, the sound of thunder circling above Falling Star Valley grew even louder!

The pitch-black tribulation clouds rolled, and a destructive might ten times more terrifying than before descended, locking onto Mr. Duan in midair!

This was an ultimate warning to Mr. Duan!

The Heavenly Dao cannot be defied!

Those who are Heaven-Defying shall die!

Facing the terrifying aura above his head that threatened to crush space, Mr. Duan was still smiling.

He raised his head, looking straight at the purple thunder clouds above the Nine Heavens.

Still very politely, he nodded toward the violent thunder.

"I truly apologize."

Mr. Duan said in an even tone, "This person is still useful for my plan."

"Therefore, he cannot die at your hands today."

This breezy sentence became the fuse that completely detonated the heavenly might!

Greeting him was a thunder completely plunged into frenzy!

"Crackling—!"

The firmament tore apart!

The purple thunder all over the sky gathered and compressed in midair!

In just a few seconds,

those purple lightnings actually transformed within the clouds into a purple thunder dragon tens of thousands of meters long, its scales looking vividly lifelike!

The thunder dragon opened those emotionless eyes of the Heavenly Dao, let out a dragon roar that shattered the Divine Soul, and dove straight down from above the Nine Heavens!

Its target pointed directly at Mr. Duan and the Blood Ancestor below!

Before the thunder dragon's massive body truly descended, that destructive pressure had already made the mountains around Falling Star Valley unable to bear it.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Endless explosions rang out.

Inside Falling Star Valley, the hard mountains thousands of meters tall were crushed into powder all over the sky under this pressure!

The blood cloud at the very bottom quickly thinned under the suppression of the terrifying thunder, large swaths of blood mist being evaporated into nothingness!

"Ahhhhh!"

The Blood Ancestor let out a miserable scream from deep within the ruins, watching its accumulated Origin power being wantonly destroyed.

"Duan! How much longer are you going to wait?!"

The Blood Ancestor urged loudly: "Why aren't you making a move for this old man yet! Do you really want to watch me die here!"